MLA in Saanich North and the Islands · BC provincial 2026
Emily Lowan
Leader of the BC Green Party, and the party's candidate for MLA in Saanich North and the Islands.
Emily Lowan is the BC Green Party candidate in Saanich North and the Islands. Party members elected her leader in September 2025. She announced her run on September 23, 2026, the day the district's Green MLA, Rob Botterell, said he would not run again. Reporting by CBC News and the Times Colonist in 2026 says she has no seat in the legislature. Her own statements in this campaign name health care, housing, ferry service, child care, renters' rights and climate as her concerns.
A researched record of what Emily Lowan has said and done as BC Green Party leader and as the party's candidate in Saanich North and the Islands. voche.me found no seat in the legislature in her record on 2026-10-02, so it found no voting record to review.
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
01 / Introduction
About Emily Lowan
Elections BC lists Emily Lowan as the BC Green Party candidate in Saanich North and the Islands. On the copy of the list stamped October 1, 2026 11:00:06 PM, the other accepted nominations in the district are Richard Smith of CentreBC and Ryan Windsor of the Conservative Party. Nominations close at 1 p.m. on October 3, 2026.
The party's announcement of September 24, 2025 says members elected her leader in its 2025 leadership contest. By the party's count she received 3,189 votes, Jonathan Kerr 1,908 and Adam Bremner-Akins 128. CBC News reported the same three totals and said she won on the first ballot.
She announced her candidacy at a news conference in Victoria on September 23, 2026, with the party's two MLAs, Rob Botterell and Jeremy Valeriote. Botterell said he would not seek re-election in the district and that he supports her. Lowan said she grew up in the area she wants to represent.
In the 2024 election Rob Botterell of the BC Green Party won Saanich North and the Islands with 12,308 votes (36.15 percent). Sarah Riddell of the BC NDP had 10,958 votes (32.19 percent), David Busch of the Conservative Party 10,145 (29.80 percent), and Amy Haysom, an independent, 635 (1.87 percent). voche.me searched the whole 2024 statement of votes and found no candidate named Lowan.
The party's pages say she worked as the fossil fuel supply campaigns lead for Climate Action Network Canada and as an investigative researcher with the Corporate Mapping Project of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. voche.me has not checked these with the two organizations. CBC News reports that she served on student council at the University of Victoria.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
18 commitments shown · Checked Oct 2
2026 · Public servicesCampaign pledge
Access to health care in the district
When she announced her run, she named the lack of access to health care as a problem for people in Saanich North and the Islands.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The party release quotes her. It names no measure, number, cost or date for the district.
What still needs checking
Which health care measure would she push for in the district?
Higher taxes on large corporations and the wealthiest
She said the party would make large corporations and the wealthiest people pay their fair share, and use the money so people can afford a home and see a doctor.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The party release quotes her. Her words name no tax, rate, amount or date. The party plan page names a Fair Share Act, listed separately as the party's plan.
What still needs checking
Which tax would she bring in, and how much would it raise?
She announced a renters plan that includes vacancy control, which ties allowed rent increases to the rental unit instead of the tenant, ending blanket bans on pets, and restarting the Community Housing Fund.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The party release names her as announcing the plan and quotes her. Daily Hive reported the plan. Her quoted words give no cost or date.
What still needs checking
When would a vacancy control bill be brought in, and what would the housing funds cost?
In a statement on LNG Canada Phase 2, she said the party opposes public money for foreign-owned gas export projects and would spend it on renewable energy and union jobs instead.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The statement is hers, published by the party. It names no amount, program or date.
What still needs checking
Which public support for the project would she end, and what would replace it?
The Times Colonist reports that she announced the party's toxic drugs policy on October 1, 2026, and said the party will "put an end to the failures" behind the crisis.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The report quotes a few words from her. It gives no measure, number, cost or date. voche.me did not find the party's policy document on 2026-10-02.
What still needs checking
What does the party's toxic drugs policy contain, and what would it cost?
The party plan page says a Fair Share Act would make people worth more than $100 million and large corporations pay more, and would raise more than $13 billion.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
This is party text with no candidate named. It gives no date.
Her public record is her work as party leader since September 2025, known from party releases and reporting. Neither dated action earns the record point, because both are party roles or decisions.
Party result, reported by CBC News
Elected leader of the BC Green Party
The party says members elected her leader in its 2025 contest, with 3,189 votes to 1,908 for Jonathan Kerr and 128 for Adam Bremner-Akins. These are the party's figures. CBC News reported the same totals.
Scope, limits and sources
A party office is a role, so this entry earns no score.
Ends the party's accord with the BC NDP government
CBC News reported that the party ended its Co-operation and Responsible Government Accord with the BC NDP. Lowan told reporters that nearly two thirds of what was agreed had not been done.
Scope, limits and sources
This was a party decision outside the legislature's own record, so this entry earns no score.
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
Press conference
Announces the party toxic drugs policy and a Saanich South candidate
With Lisa Lapointe at a park in Saanich, she announced the party's toxic drugs policy and named Lapointe as its Saanich South candidate, the Times Colonist reports.
She said she was disappointed that the project would go ahead, that the party opposes public money for it, and that reconciliation means respecting the right of nations to say no.
She announced that the party would lift the freeze on new $10-a-day child care spaces and make child care free by 2031, and introduced Carolyn Howe as the Victoria-Swan Lake candidate.
Announces her run in Saanich North and the Islands
In Victoria, with Rob Botterell and Jeremy Valeriote, she said she would run in the district where she grew up, and named health care, housing, ferries and climate threats as its problems.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
News coverage / Original publishers
Read the reporting
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reporting
Times Colonist (The Canadian Press)
Lapointe to run for the Greens in Saanich South
Reports her announcement of the party's toxic drugs policy.
Sources checked October 2, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
No campaign website of her own was found: the addresses emilylowan.ca, emilylowan.com, lowan.ca and teamlowan.ca did not answer on 2026-10-02. The party's candidate and leader pages link only to the party's own Facebook, Instagram and X accounts, and voche.me found no personal account tied to this candidacy, so no social media post is used. The search tool used by earlier researchers had no searches left, so the name search used the Google News feed and the party's own site search. A Castanet report of September 23, 2026 returned HTTP 403 and was not read. Her roles with Climate Action Network Canada and the Corporate Mapping Project come from the party only and were not checked with those organizations. The leadership vote totals are the party's figures; CBC News reported the same totals. voche.me searched the 2024 and 2020 provincial statements of votes and the 2021 federal results for her surname and did not find it. It did not search the 2025 federal results. The party's toxic drugs policy of October 1, 2026 is known only from the Times Colonist; voche.me did not open the policy itself. The party plan page says a full platform is coming soon; when it is published, the party commitments here need a new check. No all-candidates meeting for Saanich North and the Islands was found on 2026-10-02. VoteMate was not read. Campaign finances and endorsements were not reviewed. The questionnaire has not been sent.
Research status
What voche.me has checked
Evidence reviewed on 2026-10-02: the Elections BC candidate list, the 2024 and 2020 statements of votes, the 2021 federal results, the party's candidate page, leader page, plan page, events and eight party releases, and reporting from the Times Colonist, CBC News, CHEK News, Saanich News, Victoria Buzz and Daily Hive.
No campaign website of her own was found, and the party pages link only to the party's social media accounts. An empty section records what voche.me did not find on this date.
03 / Background
Experience & community
September 2025 to present
Leader, BC Green Party
The party's announcement says members elected her leader on September 24, 2025, with 3,189 votes by the party's count. CBC News reported the result the same day.
The party's candidate page says she worked as a researcher with this project of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. voche.me has not checked it with the organization.
Proposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
What would you change first to make ferry service to the Southern Gulf Islands and the Saanich Peninsula reliable, and what would it cost?
No response has been submitted.
How would the province pay for free child care by 2031?
No response has been submitted.
Which housing measure would you push for first as MLA for Saanich North and the Islands?
No response has been submitted.
Have your own question?
Ask Emily Lowan directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
05 / About this page
Questions about this page
Facts voche.me can state about Emily Lowan's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.
Is this an official page for Emily Lowan?
No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Emily Lowan's own campaign.
What party is Emily Lowan running with?
Emily Lowan is running for MLA with BC Green Party.
Does Emily Lowan currently hold public office?
Not according to this profile. voche.me has not listed a current public office for Emily Lowan.
How many sources does this Emily Lowan profile cite?
This profile lists 8 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.
Why do some questions on Emily Lowan's page show no answer?
The "Questions & answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Emily Lowan in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.
When is the election Emily Lowan is running in?
The 2026 British Columbia election, including the MLA race, is decided on October 24, 2026.
06 / Candidate contributions
Space for campaign updates
No campaign updates yet
Announcements, event details and messages can be added here, with their source and publication date. No campaign submission has been added.
